Episode 1 with Brian & Kayla - Getting to know Conscious Action

We learned a lot, but then at the end, we sort of, we were asked a few questions, so there was a few prizes given away, and then it was sort of see you later and Brian and I were left thinking there was a real missed opportunity wasn't there ? Of, you know, people in the room who really cared about the topic who wanted to. Perhaps create change and contribute to cleaner oceans or whatever really got them. And they just didn't really quite know what they could do as individuals.

It was sort of not deliberately disempowering, but it felt a little bit like a missed opportunity

It really helped us to build something from the truest of foundations and from there, it was almost like it couldn't go wrong and as Brian said, we had two events so quickly and the events were called, 'Some inspiring whys'. Where we hosted three people who had incredible stories about why they were doing what they were doing. And the second one was called 'Let's talk rubbish', which was about, rubbish, recycling, waste,

And again, this is how we were aligning with why we were doing this and the values and actually getting to the place that we put connection at the heart of it, then collaboration, celebration super important, but also making sure that everything is done with compassion. and I think that for me personally, this is a huge thing, for me, both of like- all of those four pillars that we have for conscious action are for me as an individual super important.

I love connecting with other people, co-creating, I love being able to take the time to appreciate, and to actually celebrate what I'm doing, what other people are doing, the small little wins and every step that happens, I think that it's worth celebrating and for me doing everything with compassion, not pointing fingers. I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. Almost nobody that I know is perfect. I don't know if there's a perfect person out there, but we can all learn from each other.

We can all inspire each other and if I'm coming from that place of compassion, it makes everything much more easy for me.

So we give everybody at the event at an opportunity to reflect on what they've heard, what they've learnt and think about one action they can take for themselves and we sort of reiterate at the events and, really, really, encourage people to just take one thing, whether it's the first thing they've ever done to do with that topic or whether they're already an expert and it's the next thing.

And I think that's where people felt really welcome, you know, it wasn't somewhere where you needed to be an expert in recycling. You might've, you might still be throwing rubbish out your car window for example, it was about meeting people with where they were at and taking them that one step further.

And I think that positivity and compassion is one of the reasons why people who started coming to those first events still come now two years later and I think that's become a real key part of what we're doing and that celebration piece, as you say, is really, really a big part of that as well. So yeah, that compassion, I mean, there's no doubt there's room in the world for activism.

There's room in the world for government lobbying, there's room in the world for all of it and people respond to different ways of communicating, but certainly as conscious action, we sit right in that place of compassion and celebrating every little, every little bit.

Like for me, that's huge being able to, to connect with people, to learn from each other and like something that I love from the event that we run is that there's a sense that it's not experts talking to someone that is attending the event. It's more of a conversation that we are having altogether. And being able to see that happening for me is, is so valuable.

And I think that's something that a lot of people really, really like about being part of this community that is getting that sense of we're all here together and we're all learning and let's all learn together.

And, and to think that I was a part of, you know, we were a part of creating that for ourselves and for the community itself is, you know, it's one of the best things I've probably ever done in terms of contributing to the world and it's not something I ever really imagined and it's just, yeah, it's been quite incredible to see, and I'm really proud of it. Yeah. It's really a magical community and it doesn't feel like we own it.

Like you say, with the events that it feels like we just opened the doors and then the events kind of take care of themselves and if you've ever been to one of our events, you will, you may have also been surprised by the amount of interaction. people, even people, one person in particular, I'm thinking of who had severe social anxiety, prior to coming to some of our events, she will now stand up and speak, for, you know, a good period of time.

She's passionate and she feels safe in that environment. I think that's just so special for me to see that interaction. Isn't it? And yeah. Yeah, it's really, really, really important part of what we're doing.

Like we have touched so many different topics. I'm excited to see all of the topics that are coming up this year and in the future. So I'm really excited about that, but I wanted to take a little bit of a segue way and wanted to learn a little bit more about you. Who are you? Yeah, so that everybody can know, I think I know, but so that everybody can know who's Kayla,

I didn't know where it was going to come from. Turns out it came from an Instagram message actually from the founder of the startup, which is obviously where I met Brian as we were talking about. So that was the real, real change for me in my life. I went from corporate into wellness and I think along the way, especially being an only, not an only child, God the opposite. I'm the oldest of four.

I've always been passionate about supporting others, helping others to be the best version of themselves. I've always considered myself quite a positive influence on people. And that was always the feedback I got from my corporate roles, you know, great, positive role model in the office and blah, blah, blah. And I thought, why do I need to work in corporate to do that? I think what I could do is be a coach. So I started a coaching business.

I would consider myself a clarity coach or a mindset coach, and I now work with people to help them to identify and clear resistance in their life. So anyone who's feeling sort of stuck or icky, I'll help them figure out why they're stuck and how they can shift that sort of stuckness, so that they can realign with who they are and where they're going, and then help them go forward. And I think it is the best thing I do in my life apart from being a mother.

And one of the ways I do that is through walk n' talks, where I take people for walks in nature, whether that be in person or over the phone. And so that nature element is really important to me too. I love being outdoors and I love what being outdoors brings out in people. So to be able to get people outdoors and help them clear their shit and realign and move forward from that positive, real, really grounded and centered place is something I'm super passionate about.

So, Doing that alongside conscious action is a very big, sort of change from where I came from. I also recently became a mother. so I have an eight month old baby, which is something that I can't really even hear myself saying yet. It's all very, very new. So it's also so, such a privilege to be here doing this podcast and to be still working and still sort of giving my gifts to the world in some way. when I have something so consuming kind of waiting for me at home.

So yeah, I guess that's a little bit about me and where I'm at.

And before, perhaps I introduce myself, what are some of the things that you like, your hobbies, like you didn't even mention, like where did you grow up and things like that?

So I lived there for six years before I came back to Auckland to work on the event, the event, the event that ended in burnout. So I guess. I would probably be most known for being passionate about being outside. And I love, I love the beach, but I'm not a water baby. I'm a sand baby. I love my feet in the sand. I love to be hot. I love the sun. I love stand up paddle boarding. I love the physical, I love physical activity. I love the physical senses of nature around me and yeah, I suppose.

I'm quite defined by that. And I'm noticing as a mother, because I have limited time and I need to be very selective with what I do, particularly now, as it is summer, I'm noticing that I am very drawn to the outdoors and, and it's yeah. Being a mum, as you say, it's life changing, it brings you into quite a succinct existence. There's not, there's no time for a lot, a lot of people, a lot of places, you need to be very deliberate with what you're doing.

and so it's interesting to notice what excites me now and yeah. I'm still learning who I think I am as a mother. I think it is, we're always a work in progress, but I think this is a drastic, drastic change for me. And yeah, I think the new version of Kayla is still emerging. So I agree with you that I'm also excited about the perspectives I will bring to the events and to this podcast as a mother. Yeah. What about you, Brian? Where did you come from?

but I grew up on, on a family, like with a jewish background, in a Catholic country, which makes it already as something interesting. I grew up with two brothers and a sister, loving parents, loving family, very family oriented. And I used to love sports. I remember being super active when I was a kid, football, basketball, tennis, TaeKwonDo, like doing everything that. I wanted to do, I was super bad.

Art, like my parents would give me the possibility of going to like piano lessons, guitar lessons, or drawing and stuff like that. And I wasn't good at all. My stick figures were really bad. so I grew up mostly like a normal kid in Argentina and then. When my parents started getting a little bit more into a spiritual path things, I started noticing that things started to change, for the better, the conversations at home were different.

I started reading from my parents' recommendations, lots of different books on spirituality and self-help. And I started learning a lot from there and then I remember my parents being one day coming home and like, Hey, we just did this class. It was super cool. Do you want to go and perhaps try it and almost everything that they would recommend. I would do it. Not, not my, my brother sometimes chose not to, but I was like open to trying everything.

So meditation, yoga, Buddhism, Reiki, energy healing, whatever it was. I was open to it and actually I loved it. It was the first time with most things that I felt like this, this is me, this is my path. and it was incredible. A lot of it had to do with like my feelings, like I'm super based on my feelings. I think a lot, but I feel a lot. And I go through my feelings. I started getting a lot into these topics and I started getting more and more experience.

I was going to meditation classes and are going to different yoga style classes. and I started realizing that there were certain things inside of all of the things that I was doing that. We're bringing me more alive. those were energy healing, Reiki, and a few other ones that nobody knows their names. So I'm not even going to bother now. and then, Tibetan yoga and Tibetan meditation. Like the Tibetan Buddhist culture for me was something that resonated so much because it gave me a framework.

That wasn't at all restricted. It was all based on my experience. At least this was my understanding and still my understanding everything is based on my experience and whatever it is for my growth. It was, how does this relate to me? Is this true for me or not? So I started doing that. And at the same time, I was still living in like, let's say regular life. I was still playing sports. I was watching a lot of TV.

and I started using a lot, the internet, which at that time in Argentina, at least it was like the beginnings, like dial-up, like all of the noises, all of that. so I did spend a lot of time with those things, but I had kind of like these different parts of my life. I studied journalism, I studied social communications. I studied, postgraduate in neuroscience and when I finished all of that and at the same time, this was back in, 2010. I was working at the radio, at the radio station.

I finished my studies and a relationship of four years just ended. And I was like, you know, this is time I need to get out of here. I need to go and explore more of the world. And I always wanted to go and live in the US when I was a kid. So I thought I'll just go. So I bought a one way ticket to New York. No idea what I was going to do. No idea like how long I was going to- no idea about anything other than, you know, I need to leave this place. I need to go and explore the world.

And I remember getting to New York with just like three nights booked on a hotel. And in those days I felt this lightness. Like I felt like I remember my mom, like we were Skyping and she asked me, how are you feeling? This was after like two or three days. I'm like, I feel like this 50 kilo backpack, I was able to get it off my back. I didn't know that I was carrying all of that, but it felt amazing and things just started unfolding. I met the right person. I found a place to live.

I found a place to work and suddenly I was just living there , super interesting. My work was at a marketing agency that my main role was, and what we were doing around that time was working at the New York fashion week. not at all my world, but, it was an amazing experience, you know, it was just like seeing that. That huge industry and all of the superficialities that were coming with that and the amount of money.

Like I remember going into different fittings with the models and go into talks with some of the designers and all of the, like the catering, the what's going to happen during the fashion week. And I was like, what? I'm like, we're talking like millions of dollars as the same way that I spent $5 going to cafe. and then also seeing like all of this models that in person. I was like, wow, they seem super unhealthy. And they weren't eating at all.

So like after every show or every fitting or stuff like that, I would take all of the leftovers, the leftovers home. so that was actually good for me. but anyways, so I started working there. And then, my after New York fashion week and did a little bit more work there in New York, I was told that everyone was going back to Miami, to the main office. And if I wanted to continue with them, I need to go to Miami and I loved Miami.

And the only thing was that I was going to start an apprenticeship, in ESPN radio in New York. So I just had to make sure that I could do the same in Miami. And luckily they had a spot for me and it was with the Miami Heat on the NBA, something that I loved growing up, and it was a dream come true to be able to be a producer on the broadcasting of all of the games.

It was a super incredible moment for as well for that city, because for the ones that know anything about basketball, LeBron James just went to Miami. So it was kind of like the big moment for that franchise. And I remember the first day that I went into a building and I went to the locker room and he was just there. And I was like, Oh my God, like, you know, like childhood fan over here. And it's like, and just being able to be part of that, it was incredible.

And after a while, my visa ran out. I couldn't get it renewed. So I had to leave the US. And I was like, what do I do? I didn't want to be back in Argentina. I wanted to continue expanding the world. And because I, luckily I have European citizenship. I ended up going to Europe. I ended up going to Berlin, to Germany and I was working there doing digital marketing for a while. Until my contract ran out and I was like, you know, this is not what I want to do every single day.

And I was thinking, what do I want to do? And I remember I was one day in my room there in Berlin. My contract was about to expire and I was doing my, my own practice. I was practicing Tibetan yoga. And I remember that my first ever class of Tibetan yoga, the teacher mentioned this center in California. That is the main place where they teach the style. So I was like, Oh, so I was talking with my mom. And she said, yeah, that, that could be a cool place for you.

So I got in contact with my teacher back from Argentina and I asked her because she has been there. Do you think that this is a good place for me, I'm a good fit. And she's like, yes, you're going to love it. Let me just write to them. So they know who you are. and two weeks later I was in California, for the first time in my life, living in a small community in the middle of a mountain. Like I came from living in big cities.

Buenos Aires, New York, Miami, and Berlin to the middle of a mountain and community of 27 people. Practicing Tibetan Buddhism. and it was a life changing experience. One like I'm so happy that I did that because it was like, I was able to go so deep and I understood so much about me and the way that I was, relating to the world and to other people.

my knowledge and wisdom, like went over the roof and like, and I know that a lot of people, when I talk about that, they think like, ah, I was like, you know, sitting every single day meditating and that wasn't the case. Like I was doing a lot of practice, but a lot of hard work, lot of physical, mental work, but everything done through the framework of the practices that we were studying. And it was incredible being able to. To give back being able to do something so meaningful.

one of the main projects that I was working on was, the text preservation, project for all of the Tibetan Canon, all of the teachings of Buddha. we were making all of these books. To send to India for the Tibetan community for free. so we could actually get this knowledge spread once more because it was almost being lost Incredible. Yeah. And it was just like, you know, it was so fulfilling being there. and I grew so much and I was actually going to, I was, I lived there for two years.

I was going to live there for three more years. and then that, when it was time to apply for the new visa to renew that, the US government, for some reason denied it. so I was like, okay, I need to leave. so

And when I went to visit my family, I was like, okay, what do I do? And I was just, I'll go back to Europe. I have a citizenship. It's easy. I wont be kicked out. so I just went to, to book a flight and I thought my sister was living in London. like I had friends all over Europe. I was just to go and visit, I booked a flight for two weeks later. And within that time that I was there visiting a friend of mine that was living here in New Zealand. Messaged me like he did every single year.

It's time to apply for the working holiday visa. And every year I was like, Oh, sorry, like I'm here, I'm there. And I was like, Oh, cool. Thank you. So I just applied and for the ones that haven't gone through that process, like it's easy, but it's super challenging because there's only a certain amount of visas and there's so many people applying for them. so I remember being in front of the computer.

And like triyng to go to the next page just putting in my details and the website would crash and I would have to start over and I would have to start over and 45 minutes do what it would take three minutes. So I was, and then I got the message like, yo, you got your visa pending, your physical exam. So I was like, Oh cool. I got my visa. I was just next day. I was like, I'll just go and get my physical exam done. And they send me on the email of immigration.

Like there's only five places that you can go. So I'm like, okay, let's just call them to make an appointment. So the next day I called the first one I can't get through. I called the second one. They have an appointment open for two months from that point another one for three weeks more. I was like, Oh no. So I couldn't get a hold of them. The next day I got a hold of two more. The same. They didn't have any appointments for my framework.

And then I was like, okay, I can't get through to the last one. I'll just go. Like I had three more days in Argentina. I needed to get this done. So I just went to display some when I was going, it was raining. And the last two blocks actually started, like hail started to come down, like the size of baseballs and like all of the cars, the cars were like, you know, like breaking off the glasses and stuff like that. I was running and I got in and I asked like, do you have any opening?

And the, like the secretary there is just like, we are fully booked. I'm like, Okay. Okay. What do I do? And I'm like, okay, can I wait here until like this stops? And she's like, yeah, just take a seat. 20 minutes went past the hail was still coming down and she's like, whoever was supposed to be here. Like they haven't shown up. So we have an opening. So I went, I got my medical exam down. And everything happened so easily. That was like, cool.

I'm just going to go to Europe, visit my sister, visit my friends. And I made my way down here to New Zealand and just came here. Everything has worked. Not everything perfectly because we have, like, as you mentioned

And I think that through those topics, we'll be able to reveal ourselves a little bit more as individuals, but for now, I guess the whole point of this episode now in this introduction is to really. really introduced you to the concept of conscious action, which has obviously co founded by Brian and myself with completely different backgrounds. Obviously, you know, much more about Brian's, but I can't then mind, but we are both here now.

and experiencing that same flow that you were talking about, and we cannot wait to bring you, as we said, Thought leaders and change makers and stories and conversations with people that we find exciting. But not only that we think will inspire you to a learn more about your impact on the world, sort of empower you that, you know, as an individual, you do make a difference. You, you are important.

you have a huge ripple effect, and hopefully inspire you to take some action, with that new knowledge. So, yeah.

Our actions would be so different. And I think that, as you said, like the ripple effect that happens from actions coming from that place is huge and more

Why do I care about these milk bottle caps and why am I taking action and people around me seeing huh, she's connected with her values. She's made decisions from that place and she's had an impact. Look, she's saved one bottle cap from the landfill. So it's actually less about the action and very much about, like you say that connection, understanding why anything is important to you and it's about you. It's not about why it's important to your neighbor or your mother or your partner.

It's about why it's important to you. And that. Coming from that place that really authentic and true, value based living in those decisions, the actions themselves become less relevant. It's that really inspired and motivated, way of living. That is what is to me, a lifestyle leader. And that's part of what I personally want to get out of this podcast is inspiring and empowering, and I've used those words a lot, probably.

People to become lifestyle leaders in their own lives and see what happens because isn't it amazing what happens and what you can attract and what you can permit others around you to attract in and just generally raise the vibe of like your world. And then by default, My world Brian's world, you know, the whole world, it starts with you. It starts with me, you know, we need to know who we are, why we care, how to act, which is where that awareness and education will come from in this podcast.

And then actually take that action, make the change, do it, you know, start today and make it even if you just do it once, just start. Isn't it like

You're going to have such an impact on other people, because people will see that people will see that, which is underneath those actions. People will see your true self. I feel it

And meeting other people who are feeling that same, vibe, I guess, by that sort of that same frequency and connecting with each other and just raising it all for everyone. Yeah. Very exciting.

I want to leave that legacy, that impact that being like a catalyst for change, being someone that helps transform my own life and other people's life through what I do every single day.